Living With Hazards
by coldqueen
Summary: AU post-2x15: Moral Hazards. What if Rebecca hadn't had the courage to return to the Walker household after her argument with Justin? What if instead she'd ran?
1. One

**Title:** Living with Hazards

**Characters:** Rebecca Harper, Justin Walker, etc.

**Spoilers: **2x15: _Moral Hazard_, after that AU

**Rating: **PG

**Summary: **After her conversation with Justin, Rebecca makes the decision to leave town for a while and seek out David. She tries to fix what she's broken, and may find better results when she returns than she thought. Rebecca/Justin

* * *

_On the ground with my world upside down  
I got a vision of your face  
And I must get me out  
For so many memories we've yet to make_

* * *

She hated her voice for being soft and breathy, the very antithesis of the voices of the Walkers. They had strong voices, deep and gravelly, even the women, and since day one she noticed the difference. Since that very first day, suddenly thrown into this family of rambling, over-sharing men and women, she'd felt like the odd one out.

All it took was one little test to provide her proof that her instincts had been right.

Rebecca faced Justin with all the strength she had and spoke the one truth she knew could rip her world apart.

"No, I'm not." She hesitated, watching her words sink in with alarming finality in his face. "We're not related." She shook her head as her voice almost disappeared into the sudden tension in the room, her hands clenched in front of her as she fought to maintain composure. She would endure his yelling, his anger over her lying to him days ago. Why she had ever thought she could lie to this family, lie to _him_, and pretend to be a Walker, she'd never know. "Your dad's not my dad." Rebecca knew that she was rambling, but felt that something, anything she said would make that terrible hurt in his eyes fade.

"The test; you took a test, you said-"

"I know, I was afraid to tell you," Rebecca interrupted Justin's sudden bumbling words, grateful that she had the chance to explain.

Before she could continue, Justin replied with quickly darkening eyes. "So you lied to me?"

"No, I'm sorry, it's just..." She fumbled her words as she turned her eyes away, the strength of conviction and truth that had led her here, to facing him, crumbling as she realized belatedly that her entire life was falling apart with every word she uttered. She didn't know if she had the strength to finish this conversation without crying. "You've all become like family to me, and I really didn't want to lose that." She rushed into her explanation, the one she'd planned the entire ride over here. "And I know that you said that everything would stay the same but-"

"I thought you were different," Justin interrupted gruffly, his eyes hard but still shining with emotion.

"What?" She asked as his sudden statement caused her to lose her place in that lovely pre-arranged conversation she'd planned. A conversation that had not involved the man who'd confessed only last night to having romantic feelings for her looking at her like she was the scum of the Earth.

"Than your mom," he explained as he glared at her. "But you're not, you're exactly the same, you both lie." Words slipped so easily from his mouth, she was shocked that such cavalier tones could stab so deeply.

"Justin, no-" She'd give anything to start this conversation over. Maybe, to never have started this conversation in the first place.

"How could you do this to me, Rebecca?" How can he not see the tears gathering so quickly in her eyes? "You promised me you were going to tell me the truth, and I believed you." How could he not realize that she'd fallen in love with his family, and more specifically with him?

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Just go! I think you should go. Go!" He said sharply, not quite yelling.

Rebecca didn't know how she'd gotten to this point, to this scene in her life, but as she rushed past Justin Walker she knew that it was all her fault.

It wasn't David's fault, wasn't her mother's fault, it definitely wasn't William Walker or any of his family's fault.

She also knew one very important thing.

She could live with Justin's anger, with all of the Walkers' anger.

She couldn't live with his hate, however. Hate that for just the briefest of seconds had been revealed to her as he'd told her to leave his home, and silently, his life.

Rebecca walked from that house, so lovingly filled with pictures and memories, and into a harsh world with no one there waiting for her.

She kept walking.

* * *

**Three Months Later**

**New York City, New York**

"David? Are you home?"

The lack of response told Rebecca that he wasn't and she pursed her lips as she tried to think of where he could be. He didn't have a shooting scheduled today, but he could still be out scouting locations. She sighed and tried to let the matter go but knew she'd have that nagging tension in her shoulders until he came home.

Actually, she'd had that tension in her entire body for the last three months. She'd tried, very hard, to relax in this new city, in David's home, but Rebecca wasn't foolish. This wasn't her home, and though he was her father, David wasn't family yet. They were trying to become family, but it always felt like something was missing, something integral.

Perhaps someone; someone was missing from the picture of a perfect family.

Rebecca shut the door firmly behind her and moved to set the grocery bags down on the kitchen counter. The loft wasn't a large apartment by any means, but she and David were making it work. Cramped and a little cluttered, it was clear that two artists lived here. Her photographs covered most of the walls, taped or tacked up, and his scripts and notepads were on most surfaces. She'd left her camera behind at her mother's house, but David had quickly gone about procuring her a new one. She'd almost cried when he'd presented it to her. Knowing that he was still struggling financially, despite the sudden influx of a job from an old friend, he'd made sure she had a camera.

Even in this place, so far from home, she had someone. Someone who cared and who thought of her, who knew her passions and tried to let her indulge in them. During the days while David shot his latest project on various locations, she wandered this vast impressive city and sought to find her artistic vision. Much to her surprise, Rebecca had found that she had a talent for portraits. She didn't know how, but the lens of her camera always seemed able to catch that edge of emotion in people. The tears hiding behind the shine of their eyes, the laughter stifled in the curve of their smile, even the secrets lurking in their down-turned eyes.

Rebecca smiled to herself as she glanced around the room at all of her photographs adorning the walls. Several of David's movie friends had purchased shots from her, though very cheaply. She was just beginning at this, but Rebecca knew in her heart that this was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. The feeling of a camera in her hands, cold hard metal and hefty weight, felt right.

Much like the Walker family had felt 'right'.

She regretted what had happened, she really did. Rebecca even, in part, regretted running away. It'd been a childish reaction, but she was still so young she felt they could forgive the impulsiveness of it. However, running away had gotten her here, with David, and fixed something broken inside her, so the regret wasn't too large.

She missed them, though. Not just Justin, but all of them. They'd become like family to her and her fear of losing them had been so great she'd made the wrong choices. She'd known in her heart that she couldn't pretend forever, but to even try had doomed her from the start.

Rebecca liked to think that coming here, to New York to talk to David and convince him to return to Pasadena, had been the right choice. Her first right choice in a while.

She smiled slightly, knowing that she'd followed her right choice with another wrong one. Moving across the room she trailed her fingers down the large photo just above the couch. His face smiled out of it, rakishly handsome with a wicked humor dancing in his eyes as his fingers danced across the strings of his guitar, a blur near the bottom of the photo.

Definitely a mistake, but one that had taught her something very important.

You can't run from love.

"Hey, kid. You're home early," David said by way of greeting, opening the door and distracting her from her contemplation.

"Where you been? I thought this was your day off?" She asked as she moved back to the kitchen to finish putting away the few groceries she'd bought.

"It was, but with only a few shots left I want to make sure all the loose ends get tied up," he explained as he reached across the counter to grab an apple. "You bought groceries?"

"We have to eat for the next few days, David," she admonished as she finished her chore and smiled at him. "Only a few days left."

"Are you ready, Becca? Sure you can handle this?" David asked concernedly. He knew the circumstances of her decision to come to him, having had it confessed to him as she stood in his doorway fresh off a train from California.

She shrugged and smiled a little sadly. "No choice, really. Gotta face him, don't I?"

* * *

**Pasadena, California**

Tommy Walker wasn't a pushover. He was a good leader for his company and knew when to back down and when to push.

The problem was that his oldest sister wasn't a pushover either and since they'd merged their companies they'd butted heads more than not. Every issue that came before them was to be argued over, every single problem, and it had long since become tiresome. Neither wanted to give an inch, even when they were on the same side.

Today was no exception. The matter on the table, or rather being argued about as they walked down the hall toward Holly's office, was the new proposed letterhead that Tommy had ordered. As usual Sarah was resisting any changes that were suggested, whereas Tommy was pushing for them.

"I don't see why we need a new letterhead at all," Sarah said smartly as she studied the pieces of paper Tommy handed to her. "It's not like we're changing the name of the company."

"There's an entire new hierarchy, the stationary we send out should-" Tommy started to reply, only to be interrupted by his sister.

"I don't understand why your name goes before mine," she said with a distinct whine, but a teasing glint to her eyes.

Tommy glared at her but the sheer humor of the situation proved too much and his grin wiped away his glare. "Why shouldn't it?"

"I'm older and wiser and far more beaut-"

Both Walker siblings froze just outside Holly Harper's slightly open office door as the CEO's voice echoed through the crack clearly. It wasn't that Holly was yelling, though that was odd in and of itself; it was more the words than the volume that got their attention.

"-she's been in New York this whole time?! And he couldn't even pick up the phone to tell me?" Holly's voice cracked as she spoke and a loud bang that could only be her mug of coffee slamming on the desk echoed out the door. Tommy placed a finger to his lips to indicate that Sarah remain quiet as they listened.

A male voice from inside the office replied calmly, "It's taken a few months to track her down since she used cash to buy the ticket, but after looking into all the leads you'd given me I felt it was the only option. She didn't turn to any of her friends, and she had no other family than you and he. I might have had results faster; however you waited a month before hiring me, which made it harder to trace her."

"I had to wait a month," Holly said in a frustrated and stressed tone. "I figured Rebecca was staying with those blasted Walkers and just wasn't talking to me. We-" Her voice cracked again and she sighed raggedly before continuing in a softer, calmer voice. "We had a fight over David and his being her father and I told her to leave. I didn't know she was going to go missing for three months! Do you understand how worried and terrified I've been?"

The man made soothing sounds and there was some shuffling noise as he moved closer to Holly to comfort her, or so Tommy and Sarah supposed the man was doing. There was a harsh rubbing sound as a tissue was pulled from a holder and Holly sniffled delicately. Sarah's mouth was gaping as she stared over at her brother, mouthing at him in shock, "Missing?"

Tommy shrugged and gestured for her to remain quiet.

"How is she?" Holly asked quietly, her voice more solemn than Sarah and Tommy could ever recall it being. This was not the fire spewing hellcat they'd come to know since their father's death, no way, no how.

"She's...in good health. I have some videotape and photos if you'd like them, as well as a written report for your review." The man suddenly strengthened his voice and became all business. "If you'd like to review it before I leave, we can settle my bill now."

"No, I don't need to review. Please, let's settle the financial part of this." Tommy suddenly realized that whoever was in the office was about to leave and he and Sarah could not be outside the door when they did. He gestured for Sarah to follow him into a small closet just across the hall even as the sound of a check being written and torn off its pad echoed out of the office. Together, the duo hid quickly, and just in time as Holly's heels clicked closer to the door.

"Allow me to walk you out," Holly said coolly as she and the mystery man walked quickly past the closet door, her words slightly muffled by heavy wood separating the foursome.

When the footsteps could no longer be heard, Sarah pushed open the door and stepped out. "All clear," she confirmed to Tommy as he stepped out. For several seconds they just stood there staring at each other, both unsure what to make of this new information.

"Rebecca has been missing for three months and we didn't even know," Tommy said with a slightly guilty expression.

"She wasn't our sister so suddenly we don't care anymore?" Sarah questioned. "I know Mom said we should give her some space, but when did space become ignoring?"

Tommy shrugged. "I guess sometime around the fifth time Justin blew up because one of us asked about her."

Sarah turned to eye the folder and DVD case sitting on Holly's desk, now clearly visible through the wide-open door. "Would it be bad if I..." She let her voice trail off and gestured to the information so temptingly close.

"Yes, it would be bad. Holly is our partner in this business, and Rebecca's mother. She's more than capable of handling this alone...what are you doing, Sarah?" Tommy suddenly hissed as she darted inside and grabbed the folder and DVD.

"She's not our sister but we care about her. I want to know where she is. It's past time we confronted this," Sarah replied as she walked quickly past Tommy and towards her own office.

"That's Holly's and that's stealing!" Tommy argued as he followed her quickly. "Holly is going to know that's gone, immediately!"

"Which is why I won't be here," Sarah said calmly, stopping only momentarily to grab her jacket and purse.

"Where are you going?" Tommy asked as he grabbed his own jacket and followed her unconsciously.

"Where else? Mom's."

Tommy wasn't foolish enough to be anywhere near Ojai Food Co. when Holly realized she'd been robbed.

By a Walker, no less.

* * *

It didn't take long to get all the Walker siblings together and by keeping the reason for the meeting secret, it took even less time. Walkers loved secrets, especially about one another and especially when they were being spilled in front of each other.

Nora sat in her chair, calmly elegant as she watched Tommy and Sarah argue quietly in the corner. She was amused but kept that to herself. She turned her eyes to Justin where he sat brooding and silent across from her, a perpetual state for him for three months now, ever since he and Rebecca had fought.

Kitty and Kevin watched the entire tableau and shrugged it off, content to watch Tommy and Sarah argue and unsure of what to do to make Justin happy again. They could only be grateful that this perpetual state of grumpiness had not pushed him back into addiction.

"Well I think they have a right to know!" Sarah yelled as she gestured to her surprisingly-silent family.

"I think we should leave it be and take it back before Holly kills us!"

"Why would Holly kill you?" Kitty asked the pair as impatience overruled her amusement at the situation, an expression mirrored on her mother's face.

Sarah glared at Tommy before turning to address her three unknowing siblings and mother. "We were on our way to discuss something with Holly when we...overhead distressing news."

"Eavesdropped is more like it," Tommy muttered as he plopped himself down onto the couch next to Kevin.

"Well, I wasn't the only one standing there," Sarah replied sharply before continuing her explanation. "It's about Rebecca."

Justin's eyes sharpened suddenly, losing the haze of daydreaming that they usually had. "What about her?" His voice was gruff, having not been used too often of late and he fought to hide the sudden eagerness he felt.

Sarah bit her lip and studied her baby brother before moving to sit on the small coffee table in front of him, taking his hand as she started to reply. "She's...Rebecca has been missing for the past three months. We all assumed she was just hiding from us, no more able to face what happened than we could but...apparently Holly hasn't known where she was either."

Justin stood suddenly pacing back and forth as his face contorted with anger. "This is my fault."

"No, it's not," Nora said as she stood, her head reeling from this new information. "This is not your fault."

Sarah rushed into the rest of her explanation, standing and facing Kevin and Kitty as their mother pulled Justin back to his seat and forced him down. "She's not missing anymore, apparently Holly hired a private investigator and he found her in New York. Tommy and I took the folder with the information and brought it here."

Tommy contradicted, "You took the information, I just came with you."

"Either way it's stealing," a loud aggravated voice said from the doorway, startling all the Walkers. Holly stood there, lit by the sun from behind, and her anger was powerful enough to immediately affect every person in the room. They all stared at her wide-eyed, unsure how to respond, only to become baffled as she visibly deflated. "You did it because you cared, however, so I can't really hold it against you."

"You're not mad?" Tommy asked as he stood and moved to her side.

"No," she said resolutely, before moving further into the room and sticking her hand out for the folder Sarah now held. "Shall we go over it together? I'm as interested in what my daughter has been doing for the past few months as you are."

Sarah's eyebrows shot up and she pursed her lips in uncertainty before handing the folder over. "Sure, why not?"

* * *

(To Be Continued...)

* * *

Review, please.


	2. Two

**Title:** Living with Hazards

**Genre: **Television

**Series: **Brothers & Sisters

**Characters:** Rebecca Harper, Justin Walker, etc.

**Spoilers: **2x15: _Moral Hazard_, after that AU

**Rating: **PG

**Summary: **After her conversation with Justin, Rebecca makes the decision to leave town for a while and seek out David. She tries to fix what she's broken, and may find better results when she returns than she thought. Rebecca/Justin

* * *

"It says she's been living with David," Sarah said aloud as she perused one of the reports contained within the manila envelope she'd swiped. She glanced up to see if anyone had a reaction to that revelation before continuing. "They've been sharing a flat on the Lower East Side of New York City for the last three months. She must have gone straight there when she left L.A.," Sarah noted aloud.

"That actually doesn't surprise me," Holly replied before glancing around and explaining, "David is Rebecca's father."

"Really? Are you sure?" Nora asked into the sudden silence. "When did Rebecca find out?"

"Probably the same time she found out Dad wasn't, Mom. She tested David, that's how she found out it wasn't Dad," Justin replied as he leaned forward, anxiety making him fidgety.

"You didn't think that was information you should share?" Kitty asked her brother, glaring at him from where she sat beside Tommy. In most family arrangements, Kitty and Tommy could be found near one another. Their political ideals often put them "against" the rest of the family and subconsciously they showed a united front.

When their father had been alive, he'd have most likely been found standing near the two of them.

"I didn't think it was anyone's business but Rebecca's," Justin replied smartly, glancing at Holly as he added, "and Holly's."

"Are you sure?" Sarah reiterated her mother's question. "I mean, if you made a mistake once..." Her voice trailed off as she smiled at Holly, clearly pleased to have something to mock her archenemy with.

"One hundred and ten percent," Holly replied coolly, her eyes glinting like blue ice with malice.

"That's what they say on Maury all the time, and look how that-"

"Enough," Saul interjected quietly, standing to gain everyone's attention. Despite all that had happened, he considered Holly a friend and knew that if he didn't head Sarah off she would antagonize the situation into something unsalvageable. "Sarah, continue with the report."

She shrugged innocently and shared a childish smirk with Kevin before turning her attention back to the report. "She caught the 8:15 train to New York via St. Louis and arrived in New York City roughly two days after she left here. She paid in cash, source unknown, took a Yellow Cab from the train station to his flat, blah, blah, blah..." Sarah's voice trailed off as she speed-read through the report looking for anything of interest.

"Some of us might like a little clarification on the "blah, blah, blah" part," Kitty said. Tommy nodded in agreement and Kevin fought not to roll his eyes.

"Where would she get the money to buy a train ticket?" Holly asked the room as she sank further into the living room chair, crossing her legs and arms in a visible effort to comfort herself. "I know she didn't have that kind of cash on her, it's part of why I was so worried."

Nora suddenly looked very nervous, her eyes darting around the room before she jumped to her feet quickly. "Would anyone like something to drink? What a bad host I've been, I'll get some tea." She started across the room quickly, stopping only when Holly's voice rang out after her.

"You gave it to her, didn't you?"

All of her children's eyes (and her brother's) locked onto Nora's back as she stood frozen in the doorway. Visibly stiffening her spine, she turned on the spot slowly and stared calmly into the faces of her family and Holly. "She called me the day after I found out about her parentage. I offered to help. We met at the train station later that day. I tried to convince her to stay, but she was convinced she needed to...to fix something she wouldn't tell me about." Her words started to spill out of her faster as she tried to explain the sympathy and empathy she'd felt for Rebecca, a girl who'd quickly formed a place in her heart and stayed there still. "I made her promise to call me when she arrived wherever it was she was going and she did. She told me she was safe and then several days later she wired the money back. I didn't hear from her after that."

"You didn't think this was the sort of thing you should tell me?" Holly asked in a rapidly escalating voice, slowly standing and walking towards Nora slowly. "This is the opening of the winery all over again! She is my daughter, Nora, not yours. You have no right to keep these things from me."

Nora sighed and let Holly's anger spark her own, knowing as she did so that it was a bad decision but one she couldn't resist. "I have never thrown any of my daughters out of my home or made them believe they couldn't return at any time," she noted in a quietly powerful voice. At the last minute she turned her glare on Kitty, "Don't say a word, Kitty Walker."

Kitty smiled amusedly before whispering theatrically, "Kitty McCallister."

Nora turned her glare back to Holly's. "How was I to know you weren't aware of where she was? We're not exactly best gal pals here, I don't keep tabs on you and I'd like to think you don't keep them on me."

Holly's mouth opened and shut several times before she visibly deflated. "You're right."

Nora's mouth fell open and stayed that way. "What?"

"I said you're right," Holly replied before returning to her seat. "Sarah, if you'd please continue."

The Walker siblings were unsure just what to make of the situation and the altercation between Nora and Holly, so they did what they did best...they filed it away for discussion later and pretended to ignore it in the meantime.

Sarah set down the first sheet of paper she'd pulled from the file and reached for the second. "It says that she hasn't gotten a job in New York, but she's been attending some classes at a community college. Mainly photography courses. When she's not at class, and not wandering around taking pictures on the camera David bought her, she's usually on set with David or at home."

"On set?" Holly asked suddenly, pulling herself from the melancholy of her admission to Nora long enough to cast the end of Sarah's sentence. "He's working? I guess it wasn't a lie when he said someone had a project for him."

"Apparently not," Sarah replied with a false smile before turning her attention back to the report. "It notes that there is a DVD with some footage of Rebecca, David, and...James Rollins?"

"Who's James Rollins?" Tommy asked as he leaned over the coffee table to rifle through the envelope for the DVD.

Sarah skimmed the sheet in her hand before reaching for the next and finding what she was looking for. "He's a musician she dated for several weeks last month. They met when David took a side job of directing a music video. He's on the DVD footage, too."

Tommy reached for the large folder and pulled the few remaining papers inside out. Setting them on the table he tipped the envelope until the DVD case slid out and onto the table beside them. Immediately Kevin and Kitty reached for it, with Kevin getting his hands on it first.

Justin watched his siblings try to make light of the situation, or at least to alleviate some of the tension in the room, but found himself grinding his teeth slightly as his nerves started to get the better of him. "She was dating someone?" He asked suddenly, unable to stop himself.

Every single one of his siblings picked up on the odd note in his voice and turned to stare at him. Sarah cocked her head to the side as she studied her baby brother. "Yes. That's what the report says."

Justin froze under their gaze and nodded slowly, struggling for nonchalance. Kevin laid his hand on Justin's shoulder in a silent show of support, being the only one in the room who knew of Justin's attraction to Rebecca and the heavy toll it'd taken on him. He was also the only one who knew that it was an argument between Justin and Rebecca that had sent her fleeing the house and eventually the state.

His show of support, however, only proved to whet his unknowing siblings' appetites.

"What...what was that?" Kitty asked with a small grin.

"What was what?" Kevin asked as he moved to the DVD player and put the investigator's DVD in.

"That hand on the shoulder," Tommy supplied, gesturing with his hand to Justin. "What do you know?"

"Yeah, what do you know?" Sarah asked as she set down the papers in her hand to stand over Justin sternly, hands on her hips and doing a very good impression of Nora Walker.

Nora remained silent where she sat in a chair across the room. She knew very well of her son's feelings for Rebecca and truth be told, those feelings were part of the reason she'd remained so silent about her involvement in Rebecca's departure. The weeks after Rebecca had left Justin had been so silent and sullen that she'd had very real fears about him relapsing into drug use. He'd seemed to buoy, usually when surrounded by his siblings, but for the first time she wondered if perhaps it'd always been a ruse.

"It was nothing," Kevin said nasally as he used the remote to access the player and get it rolling. "Let's watch the video."

"Let's get some answers on the strange brotherly affection we just witnessed," Sarah interrupted. "What's going on and what does it have to do with Rebecca?"

Kevin glanced at Justin and their eyes met and without a word Justin knew that Kevin wouldn't be able to keep quiet any longer. For a family of gossips, keeping what he knew a secret for even this long had been torture for him. Justin sighed heavily and leaned back, crossing his arms sullenly as he glared at Kevin.

"Okay," Kevin started slowly before rushing into his explanation as a growing expression of glee spread across his face. "When he found out there was a possibility that she wasn't our sister, Justin started to have feelings for Rebecca and he told her and she freaked out, but the next day she came back and finally told him that she wasn't our sister, and at the same time she also made it clear that she had feelings for him too and Justin pulled a total "guy-moment" and freaked out and told her to leave. Which she did. The entire state."

The room was silent for several minutes before the Walker family exploded with questions.

"You have feelings for Rebecca?"

"When did that happen?"

"Incest, really, Justin?"

"You're such a guy."

"You're the reason my daughter ran away?"

It was the last question, quietly uttered by Holly that got the biggest reaction. Justin turned embarrassed eyes to her and with a lightly reddening face he nodded. He explained, "I was in shock. I thought she hated me when I told her I might have feelings for her. Then she showed up and said we weren't related and she looked so..." He paused closing his eyes tightly before opening them again and staring into the eyes of his family with courage. "So I told her to leave. I didn't think she'd leave and go so far. I tried calling her for weeks after but she wouldn't answer."

Holly reached for her purse and rummaged in it for several moments before pulling a familiar phone from it and throwing it on the table. "She left her cell at the house when I told her to leave."

"I'm sorry, Holly," Justin said suddenly. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

Holly nodded and though everything inside her wanted her to start a scene, a fight, anything that would help get this burning anger out of her, she knew she couldn't. She wasn't angry with Justin, but rather with herself. Being a mother had never been an easy role for her, and this situation was just proving that fact to her. She loved her daughter, with everything she had, but they would never be friends. They were too different.

"Its okay, Justin. This is as much my fault as it is yours," Holly said softly, before she turned sharp eyes on him, "but make no mistake, it is partly your fault."

"Holly," Tommy said reproachfully.

She shrugged. "Well, it is."

Kevin and Sarah looked at each other and shrugged. Sarah smiled broadly. "Hey, let's watch the movie."

Kevin pressed the play button and pantomimed that everyone should turn to the television before silently sighing. Family affairs were always stressful.

The video started with several minutes of Rebecca walking around New York. She looked as she always had. Same long swinging hair, same shining eyes, same graceful walk that drew the eye and made one inclined to follow...

Most likely those were just Justin's thoughts, but just seeing her face again made that knot in his stomach that had been there for three months ease. When she smiled, it even seemed to almost disappear.

"She looks healthy," Holly noted as she moved closer to the television, resisting the urge to run her fingers across the screen.

Rebecca ran her fingers over her new camera in the next shot, smiling at David and wrapping her arms around him eagerly. She was speaking to him but the video remained silent. Clearly the investigator had never gotten close enough to get any audio.

The video continued to run for several minutes, showing video footage of her taking pictures of people, places, animals, and a variety of other things. Interspersed within those short scenes was footage of her with books in her hand as she walked to and from classes at one of the many colleges in New York. She'd made friends there, and sometimes they walked with her.

"I'm a little uncomfortable with this. You gave the investigator _carte blanche_ to basically stalk Rebecca? What if he hadn't been trustworthy?" Kitty said suddenly, tearing her gaze from the video to glare at Holly.

"I thoroughly checked his credentials, Kitty; he was as respectable as they come. He only followed her for so long because he needed to be sure that it was her." Holly replied defensively. "The only reason he even took video is because I requested it."

"Hey, guys?" Justin suddenly turned to them. "Shut up."

Kitty gaped at him before turning to Tommy. "Did he just tell me to shut up?"

Tommy nodded.

"I can't believe you just told me to-"

"Kitty, shut up," Kevin and Sarah said as one as they looked intently at the video. It'd finally started to get interesting.

On the screen, Rebecca was talking to a very attractive brunet man and according to the file on the table, this was James Rollins, her paramour for several weeks. The most interesting thing to Sarah and Kevin, though, was the fact that...

"He looks an awful lot like Justin," Sarah noted slyly as she fought to keep a grin from spreading across her face.

"Definitely," Kevin agreed, "the same facial structure, the same coloring, hey, did you see that? Justin does that exact same gesture!"

When Justin could finally push his senses past the haze of jealousy that clouded them, the conversation only made him blush even heavier. "Shut up, I do not."

"No, I'd have to say he does," Tommy agreed.

"Yep," Kitty threw in, still a little hurt by being told to shut up by not one, but three of her siblings.

"I think he's cuter than Justin," Nora threw out there, deliberately trying to provoke a reaction other than "Shut up" from her youngest son.

"Mom!"

"What?" She asked innocently as she shared mirth-filled looks with her other children.

"He is not cuter than me."

"Maybe Rebecca thinks so," Sarah replied.

"Obviously not if she broke up with him," Justin shot back, unintentionally buoying his own mood. That was the entire purpose of the conversation. His family trying to make him feel better as they finally realized that Justin was not happy and hadn't been since Rebecca left.

The video played more innocuous footage before it ended and everyone was content to just watch it play. Sarah picked up the last few sheets of information from the table and leafed through it looking for any more interesting facts as Kevin retrieved the DVD and moved back to his seat. Her eyes locked onto the very end of the report and a very large smile spread across her face as she read.

No one noticed that, however, as they were all entirely too focused on watching Justin and every little expression that crossed his face.

"So...what do we do now?" Tommy asked quietly, wishing silently that he had something alcoholic to drink as the tension in the room began to rise again.

"That's easy," Justin replied, "I'm going to New York."

"What?" Kevin, Kitty, Tommy, Nora, and Saul all asked in unison, their eyes wide as if they'd never seen Justin before.

"It's partly my fault she left, so I'm going to New York and bringing her back," Justin said nonchalantly as he stood and started to pace around the room.

"You can't afford to go to New York, Justin," Tommy said rationally.

"I'll buy his ticket," Holly replied smartly as she too stood. "We can fly up there together. I've got a few choice words for David I'd like to share."

"That's all well and good but neither of you are going anywhere," Sarah said loudly as she finally looked up from the papers in her hands. She set them down and moved to stand in front of the door, preventing Justin from walking out as he'd clearly intended to do at Holly's words.

"You think to dictate what I can and cannot do, Sarah Walker?" Holly asked indignantly, some of her old fire leaking into her eyes and making her more animated than the family had seen her all morning. Saul silently moved to her side, an arm sliding around her waist in comfort but also to hold her back should she get the notion to attack his niece. It was the most true a position he'd ever held, standing both as Holly's friend and her guard.

"I'm just saying it's not necessary," Sarah said steadily, placing her hands on Justin's shoulders to prevent him from trying to push past her. "Now that filming on David's film is over, they've already bought tickets to come back here. According to the report, they're planning on returning in three days. They've been packing up their loft and David has already signed tenants to sublet. They're coming back and they're planning to stay."

Justin shook off his surprise and stared up at his sister. "She's coming back?"

Sarah nodded and smiled down at her baby brother. She'd never seen him so infatuated with a woman and wondered how it was possible that she'd missed the signs. Wrapping one hand around his shoulder, unknowingly mimicking Kevin's gesture of earlier, she said quietly, "Yes, she's coming back."

* * *

Review, please.


	3. Three

**Title:** Living with Hazards

**Genre: **Television

**Series: **Brothers & Sisters

**Characters:** Rebecca Harper, Justin Walker, etc.

**Spoilers: **2x15: _Moral Hazard_, after that AU

**Rating: **PG

**Summary: **After her conversation with Justin, Rebecca makes the decision to leave town for a while and seek out David. She tries to fix what she's broken, and may find better results when she returns than she thought. Rebecca/Justin

**Author's Note: **As usual, much love for my beta dragonydreams. For always being willing to fix my silly, my serious, and my 'WTF was she thinking when she wrote that?" mistakes.

* * *

_She's coming back._

Despite repeating that mantra to himself several times an hour for the past several days, it was still difficult for Justin to wrap his mind around the concept. It was almost as if he'd accustomed himself to missing her and being without her. The very idea of having her back was enough to make him yearn for pills and booze in a very bad way.

Of course, bad traffic on the highway was liable to do the same thing.

Still, as a recovering addict, Justin viewed the situation with Rebecca with a cynical outlook. If he took himself out of the emotion and attachments of the relationship, it was almost as if she were another addiction for him. He couldn't get enough of her, her hair, her eyes, her smile, her humor. Without her there he went into withdrawal, missing her, yearning for her, willing to do anything to have her back. What made this so much worse was that this was nothing new. He'd felt this way even when he, and everyone else with the surname 'Walker', had assumed she was family.

Conflicted by his thoughts and his feelings, Justin remained at home while his family descended on the airport to welcome her back with the blind love and support only the Walker family could provide her. He'd tried to convince his brothers and sisters to leave her be and let her first feel the comfort of her own family, her mother and her father, but they didn't listen. They never did that he could recall.

He sat at the kitchen island and stared morosely into his tea. Regret stiffened his muscles and with sudden insight he stood and moved to the door. If she was surrounded by Walkers, what would one more add to the burden?

Except...she was in the doorway, her eyes locked onto his like a spotlight and he couldn't breathe. Her hair fell straight and smooth around her face, her fingers tangled in the ends as she clearly argued the best course of action now that she stood before him. "Hi," she settled for with a self-conscious smile and his heart skipped a beat within his breathless chest.

"Hey," he managed to croak out, shoving his hands into his jeans before he did something he would regret. "Welcome back."

It was the straw that broke the camel's back and her mouth was moving and words were coming out before either of them had thought further than greetings.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I ran, I'm sorry I lied, I'm sorry that the entire situation spiraled out of control so quickly. I know you're angry and that you have every right to be, and I'm...I'm sorry," she finished with a heartbreakingly quiet voice, her breath run out by the sudden speech and her eyes tender as she gazed on him again for the first time in months.

As usual, he wasn't quite what to say to her outburst, but this time in contrast to last time, he would think before he spoke. He wouldn't drive her away with his turbulent emotions, wouldn't let his shock get the better of him, and wouldn't let himself ruin the moment.

"I'm not angry," he said into the sudden tense silence between them, stepping forward just once.

"You're not?" she asked as she folded her arms in front of her stomach, her coat draped over them almost as if she was using it as a shield. She tilted her head to the side as she spoke, her hair swaying hypnotically around her.

Justin nodded, smiling at the absurdness of the situation even as he drew his hand from his pocket to gesture to her. "I could never be mad at you." He bit his lip and broke his gaze from her for the first time since she'd entered the kitchen. His eyes roamed around, anywhere but on her, as he struggled to put the words together in his head. He'd spent the last three months thinking of this, of what he'd say, and now the moment was here and he couldn't remember anything. "I was in shock. I was hurt. I was...guilty. Shamed." Finally he looked at her again. "Not angry. Never angry."

"Why would you feel guilty? Or shamed? If anyone should feel guilty or shamed it would be-"

"Don't even say that, Becca," Justin interrupted in a forceful tone. "You have nothing to feel bad about, nothing at all. If Sarah hadn't forced this entire situation on you, we'd have thought it out more. Thought to make sure before we dragged you into this mess."

"Hey!" Sarah's voice echoed from the direction of the hall where the entire family could almost assuredly be found eavesdropping. Her outrage over the blame being placed on her was clear and Justin and Rebecca both smiled, the terrible tension between them broken.

"Well...he does have a point," Kevin replied quietly, still trying to remain quiet despite having been exposed by Sarah's exclamation.

"I deny that, I wasn't the only one who went to her. Justin went to her freakin' house!" Sarah's voice grew louder as she argued her point, not even bothering to be sneaky any longer. Rebecca fought to hold back her laughter, though a grin spread quickly, when Sarah stormed past her and shook her finger at Justin. "Don't blame this all on me."

"You'd already attacked her at Ojai when I went to her house," Justin replied. He was partly irritated that this very private moment between him and Rebecca had been interrupted by Sarah, but at the same time he was almost relieved. Family interference was something he was familiar with, and an all-out melee was something he could do in his sleep.

His eyes sought Rebecca's, however, and knew that the conversation between them couldn't be put off for too long. Too many things needed to be said, needed to be done. Three months apart though, and suddenly he desperately wanted just a few minutes more.

Since Sarah was no longer hiding in the hallway with the rest of the family, they all trooped into the kitchen and did their oblivious best to make the situation worse.

"I was all for DNA testing, if you all remember," Kevin said sanctimoniously as he retrieved some wine glasses and a nice bottle of merlot from the closet.

"Yeah, even if you did go about it very rudely," Nora agreed, handing an opener to her son, smiling indulgently but still able to glare at him. "I'm getting very tired of always having my dinners disrupted and ruined."

Kevin overlooked the valid point about her dinners and let his gaze run over everyone present. "I was still right."

"And you'll hold it over all of our heads until we're ready to hit you over yours, as usual," Kitty said with a smile as she accepted a glass of wine and turned to Rebecca. "Finish your conversation, don't mind us."

"I think it was better when you were hiding in the hall," Rebecca replied as she ducked her head, hiding behind the sweep of her hair and hoping that no one noticed the blush on her cheeks.

"Why?" Sarah asked as she too accepted a glass of wine. If there ever was a drinking occasion, this was it. "We're Walkers, whatever you two would have said was going to get around anyways. No secrets here."

Justin scoffed and glared at his family, reaching for his tea and taking a deep but searing gulp. He set it down with a click and unconsciously moved to take Rebecca's hand, freezing halfway through the motion. Instead he moved to gesture to the door and tried to cover his sudden indecision. "Let's go outside."

A chorus of disappointed sounds followed the couple as they stepped onto the patio, but surprisingly Tommy's voice could be heard telling the bickering siblings to leave the two of them alone and let them hash out their own problems. Justin was appreciative of the gesture but still slightly surprised since Tommy and he had rarely been on the same side in family arguments.

"I love them, but...sometimes..." Justin pantomimed choking someone and was rewarded with the blissful music of Rebecca's laugh. The tension between them was gone, broken by Sarah's indignation, but it could easily return. For the moment it was almost like old times, the two of them against the Family, and by extension the World.

"I missed them," she said into the quiet buzzing noise of the yard. It was late evening and bugs moved around them, a part of the landscape but not bothering them.

"We missed you," he replied without thinking. He clarified as he turned to face her, "I missed you. I'm sorry."

Rebecca looked away, a myriad of emotions storming across her face. "In New York, I tried to forget this. To forget that I ever thought I was a Walker, that I'd ever...developed feelings for you."

Justin's shock was clearly displayed on his face. This was something he'd hoped for, that she might reciprocate his feelings, the confession of which had sent her running in the first place. "You...have feelings for me?" The words sounded strangled even to him and he sat down quickly on the steps, staring unseeingly at the tranquil surface of the pool.

She sat down too, maintaining distance between them but still close enough that either of them could reach out and touch one another. "Yeah. Remember in the movie theatre, when you first told me? I ran, but not for the reasons you thought."

"It was my fault," he said quickly, turning his head enough to see her just out of the corner of his eye. "I should never have said anything, shouldn't have put you in that position. Kevin told me to keep my mouth shut, but I...I couldn't."

"I'm glad you didn't, Justin," she said quietly. "It forced me to realize how what I was doing was affecting you all. By lying, I was getting this wonderful family, crazy and messy, but loving. You all were gaining a liar and a-"

"Rebecca," Justin interrupted quietly, his hand reaching over and grasping hers. "Stop. We don't think of you like that. As far as my family is concerned, you're still like a sister to them. As far as they're concerned, you'll never be anything but." He smiled deprecatingly. "Once a Walker, always a Walker."

Rebecca smiled, but it was tinged with tension. "And you? How do you think of me?"

"If I can, not at all," Justin admitted with an apologetic expression.

Rebecca's face completely shuttered down, and her body seemed almost to slump in on itself in defeat. She started to stand, her first instinct again to run, but Justin's hand grasped her elbow and refused to let her move. "While you were in New York, I thought about it a lot. What I would do if you came back, what I would say, mostly I just worried. We didn't know where you were or if you were okay for over two months, Rebecca. To stay sane I had to try and keep my mind off of you."

Rebecca settled herself back onto the step and nodded. She turned her head to the side, her eyes sliding over the kitchen window where four Walker siblings were not-so-surreptitiously peering through the curtains. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing," Justin whispered quietly back, also painfully reminded that they had an audience.

"I can't help it. I am." Her voice had gone quiet, too, trembling just slightly. "I should've called; I didn't even think that you might be worried. I just thought it'd be best if I stayed away." Almost minutely, she shifted closer to him, her arm brushing against his.

"Yeah," Justin agreed solemnly, "probably hard to think about us worrywarts back here when you're in New York. You know, being distracted by cute young singers."

Rebecca stifled her sudden urge to grin and settled for biting her lip knowingly. "Mom told me she'd hired a private detective, but I didn't realize she'd shared the information with everyone."

Justin nodded, trying to look composed as he struggled to keep the conversation light. "We didn't really give her a choice." Rebecca shrugged and remained silent, watching from the corner of her eye as Justin fought the urge to look over at her. "So...James? Rollins? Ring any bells?"

"Vaguely," she replied glibly, still failing to keep the grin off her face.

"You're going to make me work for it, aren't you?"

"Definitely."

"Who's James Rollins?"

Rebecca smiled and leaned closer, laying her head on his shoulder as if these were old times and they were having a teasing conversation about any piece of pop culture fluff. "We dated for a few weeks. He's a singer, very good, but mostly I dated him because he reminded me of you."

Justin felt his spirit lighten as she leaned on him and knew in that moment that despite what had happened, everything that had been done and said between them, they would be alright.

"Yeah?" He asked inquiringly, glancing at the top of her head with a quirked eyebrow.

She nodded and the movement sent her hair falling over his shoulder and drifting under his nose, the vanilla scent of her conditioner reminding him just how much he'd begun to miss her very presence in his life. She started to speak, her voice still quiet but growing stronger. "He was quiet, but when he spoke he never failed to make me smile. Just like you. He had this habit of always putting others at ease, even at the expense of his own comfort. Just like you. He's got dark hair and light eyes, just like you. He's got an insane family that butts into everything, just-"

"-like me." Justin finished for her. "So, if he's wonderful, which as a fake me is all he could ever be, why'd you leave?" His breath caught and stayed in his chest as he waited for her answer; refusing to look at her while he waited.

Rebecca shrugged against him and snaked her hand through his arm, holding onto him as if he was going to run away at any second. "For all the ways he was like you in looks and personality...he wasn't you."

Justin grinned, his first real smile of the day so far and looked down into her eyes. "So where does this leave us?"

Rebecca smiled back at him. "I don't know."

"It leaves you two making all of us sick, that's where it leaves us."

"Shut up, Kevin! It's romantic!"

Rebecca and Justin started to laugh as once again it appeared that just eavesdropping wasn't enough for their family. Kevin and Kitty continued to argue the merits of the situation while for once Sarah and Tommy remained quiet. Kevin threw around words like "incest" and Kitty threw back "fairy tale" and while everyone was distracted Justin took Rebecca's hand and they snuck out the back gate.

* * *

_Three Months Later_

The large house was quiet for the first time in hours. Another Walker dinner ended in dramatic Walker fashion; everyone walked out and left the people actually living there to clean up their messes. With a comforting hug and some choice words, Justin sent his mother to bed early, leaving him and Rebecca to make sure the house was cleaned up.

As he walked back downstairs, Justin didn't bother to reflect on the problems of the night. In a family this large there would always be some new problem or conflict for one or more of them. Instead, he concentrated on unwinding and loosening the tension that flowed inside him. He stretched his arm high above his head as he walked into the kitchen, his eyes seeking out Rebecca's familiar form.

She was drying the last of the dishes, having washed all of them while he tried to calm his mother down. The lights were dimmed, only the bare essentials on as her mood mellowed after the fight that had dragged out. She'd fled the room at the first sign of trouble, preferring to stay out of the squabble. Justin almost wished he'd done the same, but knew that as a blood Walker the urge to fight was too strong in him.

With a small smile on his lips Justin moved to stand behind her, his arms sliding around her waist with familiar ease. Still smiling, he pressed a kiss on her bare neck. "You okay?"

She shrugged and set the now damp dish towel aside. "Right as rain. You?"

"Five by five," he said cheekily, drawing thoughts back to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon they'd been having every Friday night for the past two months. Rebecca had been a big fan of the show and Justin's admission to having never seen it had shocked her into action.

"Never really understood that phrase," she admitted as she turned in his arms, pressing a kiss against his scruffy chin.

Justin shrug and held her a bit tighter, pressing her against the counter and wishing desperately that he had the strength in his leg to carry her up the stairs dramatically, in the kind of romantic gesture he knew she deserved. "Five times five equals twenty-five. Perfect square."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. It means perfect. I think."

"You think?"

"I know. Everything is perfect."

* * *

Review, please.


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